One exception that may be taken to this work is Luther’s teaching that Christ Himself became sin (that is: sinful) on the cross in order to make the Atonement. On the contrary the sacrifice must be pure, righteous and without sin in order to be effectual. There is a legal imputation of sin, but not an infusing thereof. See John Murray on “The Imputation of Adam’s Sin” for a corrective to Luther on this point.

*** “‘I prefer this book of Martin Luther’s (except the Bible) before all the books that I have ever seen, as most fit for a wounded conscience.’ – Bunyan. This is a great historic work, and is beyond criticism, on account of its great usefulness. As a comment its accuracy might be questioned; but for emphatic utterances and clear statements of the great doctrine of the Epistle it remains altogether by itself, and must be judged per se.” – Spurgeon

***– ‘Dickson is a writer after our own heart. For preachers he is a great ally. There is nothing brilliant or profound; but everything is clear and well arranged, and the unction runs down like the oil from Aaron’s head. In this volume the observations are brief.’

Note that the Banner of Truth reprint contains Dickson’s commentary on less books than the original.

*** “Upon each portion there is a commentary, a paraphrase and a sermon and thus the author conveys a considerable amount of instruction. He is thoroughly evangelical and his style is clear.” – Spurgeon

Lightfoot was a mid-1800’s, conservative Anglican Bible scholar though he had some liberal tendencies.

*** – The Spectator says: ‘There is no commentator at once of sounder judgment, and more liberal, than Dr. Lightfoot.'” – Spurgeon

“An important study which cannot be overlooked or ignored. Without question on one of the greatest commentaries on the Greek text of this epistle. The essays included in each work are always important.” – Cyril J. Barber

Eadie was a renowned, Scottish professor in the United Presbyterian Church.

*** “This is a most careful attempt to ascertain the meaning of the Apostle by a painstaking analysis of his words. The author is not warped by any system of theology, but yet he does not deviate from recognized evangelical truth. As a piece of honest grammatical exegesis the value of this commentary is very great, though there is room to differ from it here and there.” – Spurgeon

“Expositions on several of Paul’s letters to the churches of the New Testament era followed [by Eadie], and it is significant that Dr. C.J. Ellicott considered them to be superior to anything in England up to that time.” “Scholarly, practical, and designed for those with a knowledge of Greek.” – Cyril J. Barber

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1900’s

Bruce, F.F. – The Epistle to the Galatians: a Commentary on the Greek TextBuy1982 280 pp. in The New International Greek Testament Commentary

** “Perkins was justly esteemed by his contemporaries as a master in theology. This commentary is deeply theological, and reads like a body of divinity: truth compels us to confess that we find it dull.” – Spurgeon

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Simple, Brief & Devotional

1800’s

Hawker, John – Bible Thoughts in Quiet Hours: St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians

** “These ‘thoughts’ are sound and edifying. The book does not profess to be a thorough exposition.” – Spurgeon

Rev. Hamilton was reformed. He graduated from Princeton Seminary in 1919 (Th.B.) and 1926 (Th.M.), was ordained and served as a missionary to Korea.

Hamilton was a founding member of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, but transferred his credentials into the Presbyterian Church, U.S. (aka, Southern) in 1955 and served his last pastorate, 1964-1969, in a Reformed Presbyterian, General Synod church in Indianapolis.

Haldane was a Scottish congregationalist, and, in later years, a baptist. The latter position underlies his hard contrast between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant in the book of Galatians (and in Hebrews), which was the primary reason for him writing these commentaries: to exposit an alternate view of covenant theology that was not shared in mainstream reformed theology.

** “This work has never been popular, because the author in the third chapter discusses the question of baptism. This is a fault of which we may say as the Papist said of venial sin: ‘It deserves to be forgiven.'” – Spurgeon

** “Olshausen is mentioned by Alford as so rich in original material, that he has often cited him in his ‘New Testament for English Readers’. He is one of the most devout of the Germans, and a great scholar; but we are not enamored of him.” – Spurgeon

Ramsay (1851–1939) was a Scottish archeologist, New Testament scholar and the foremost authority in his day on Asia Minor.

Ramsay was the one that first lighted upon and defended the ‘Southern Galatia View’, that the book of Galatians was written to churches primary in the southern political province of Galatia, rather than to churches in the northern geographical province of Galatia.

After a lifetime of research, from initially being skeptical of the early Church history recorded in Acts, he came to the conclusion that “it was written with such judgment, skill, art and perception of truth as to be a model of historical statement” and that “You may press the words of Luke [who wrote Acts] in a degree beyond any other historian’s and they stand the keenest scrutiny and the hardest treatment…”

“Surprisingly rich in background material and deals expertly with the geography, culture, and history of the times. Champions the South Galatia theory and, as such, deserves careful consideration.” – Cyril J. Barber

“Prefaced with an extensive introduction giving the arguments for both the North and the South Galatian theories. As always, the writer’s exposition is very complete, and applies the text in a meaningful and practical manner. Not all will agree with the ‘two covenants’ of Galatians 4:24. A conservative exposition which deserves a place on every pastor’s bookshelf. Reformed.” – Cyril J. Barber

**‘Enough of solid truth and brilliant utterance will be found here to justify this father’s title of ‘Golden Mouth’; but still all is not gold which fell from his lips, and to modern readers Chrysostom is not so instructive as he was to his own age [A.D. 349-407].’ – Spurgeon

The traditional view from the early Church up through the late-1800’s was that the Letter to the Galatians was written to the churches in the geographic region of Galatia in Asia Minor, including the northern part.

In the late-1800’s William Ramsay, a noted archaeologist of Asia Minor, put forward a full defense of the view (which had precedents earlier in the century) that the letter was written primarily to the churches in the Roman province of Galatia which resided in the south of the larger geographical territory, and included the major cities thereof.

No doctrinal teachings are affected in taking either view, though it does affect in a small degree, besides the intended audience of the letter, its date, place of composition and how that synthesizes with Paul’s various missionary journeys and the events recorded of in Acts.

Both sides are competent positions, though the majority of N.T. scholars today have been persuaded by the Southern viewpoint (though that viewpoint is not without its difficulties). For a comprehensible (though not always easy) survey of the issues and arguments involved, see Daniel Wallace’s article below.

For more resources to look at on the topic, see our webpage section, New Testament Survey and Introduction, which works give background material (including the audience, date and composition) of each book of the N.T.

Lightfoot, J.B. – Introduction: II. The Churches of Galatia 1870 16 pp. in St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians, a Revised Text, with Introduction, Notes and Dissertations, pp. 25-41 There is also information on the topic in chapter 1, starting at p. 15.

Ramsay (1851–1939) was a Scottish archaeologist, New Testament scholar and the foremost authority in his day on Asia Minor.

Ramsay was the one that first lighted upon and defended the ‘Southern Galatia View’, that the book of Galatians was written to churches primary in the southern political province of Galatia, rather than to churches in the northern geographical province of Galatia.

After a lifetime of research, from initially being skeptical of the early Church history recorded in Acts, he came to the conclusion that “it was written with such judgment, skill, art and perception of truth as to be a model of historical statement” and that “You may press the words of Luke [who wrote Acts] in a degree beyond any other historian’s and they stand the keenest scrutiny and the hardest treatment…”